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It’ a new IPL and Chennai Super Kings have fresh captain in Ruturaj Gaikwad. On Thursday, Chennai Super Kings sprang a surprise by replacing MS Dhoni with Ruturaj Gaikwad as skipper. Under MS Dhoni, CSK won the IPL 2023. But he had given enough indication that he would be playing in more of a mentorship role in IPL 2024. Ruturaj Gaikwad said that MS Dhoni hinted him in 2023 that he would lead CSK. He also made it clear that he wants to lead CSK in his own style.

“Feel privileged. But I want to try and be in my shoes, not fill anybody’s shoes. (On captaincy) I got to know last week, but Mahi bhai hinted at it last year. Everyone is experienced here, sadly we are missing Conway and Pathirana,” he said at the toss of the IPL 2024 opener.

“We’ve got Rachin and Mitchell coming in though this year so they should fit in well. Looks like a good pitch, a hard surface that should hold up well for the second innings. Four overseas – Mitchell, Rachin, Fizz and Theekshana. The domestic player Sameer Rizvi is making his debut as well.”

Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat against defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League opener on Friday. The toss was delayed by 10 minutes following a star-studded opening ceremony.

Speaking at the time of the toss, Faf du Plessis said, “We’ll bat first. Looks like a good wicket, conditions here are a bat-first wicket. First time back here, great to see the Chennai fans again but I’m here with RCB and hopefully we can turn over a very good CSK team. Prep has been good, we need to turn up now. A seasoned campaigner brings that experience. Really good, our bowling resources fit well. Got more backup. Hopefully, injuries don’t bother us too much. Alzarri Joseph comes in tonight, got a few spinners in the middle. And since we are batting first, we’ll see how it goes.”

Ruturaj Gaikwad is leading the hosts. He was named CSK captain a day before the tournament opener, replacing the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who will continue to guide his successor in the field.

Twenty-year-old uncapped batter Sameer Rizvi was handed his CSK debut.

Teams: Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis(c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat(w), Karn Sharma, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj.

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni (w), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande.

With PTI inputs